guests

We’ve had a major weekend here at the Peaceful Reader house. My in-laws arrived on Friday night for Groovy Girl’s dance recital on Saturday. Her recital is pretty much an all-day event and you have to really be prepared. We had a delicious breakfast to start our day and by 11 am were waiting at the event venue so we could get good seats. In between the 1:00 pm show and the 6 pm show we met at one of our favorite healthy joints in the Cedar Valley, Greenhouse Kitchen, so we could make it through the second show. Unfortunately she hurt her leg during one of the dances, danced two more dances and then gracefully exited the stage after it became unbearable. She’s wearing a brace and hobbling around with a borrowed pair of crutches. Hopefully it heals fast for her.

Beyond the injury I love having guests to cook for and my in-laws enjoy good food. Here’s a smattering of recipes I’m using this week. Tristan and his girlfriend joined us overnight so I needed a few vegan options as well.

Basil Chicken Coconut Curry: delicious and I made a second version with scrambled tofu for our vegan/vegetarians. The flavor was amazing and I would make this recipe again.

Curried Chickpeas with mint and cilantro chutney: I made this early in the week for everyone to have for dinner during the busy week. I already had a jar of chutney from an Indian grocery store so I didn’t make that part of the recipe. This was so yummy Groovy Girl happily ate it and she is not a fan of chickpeas! I used two cans of organic coconut instead of the one the recipe called for-it just looked like it needed more.

Cheesy Grits Casserole: I made this easy yet delicious (you can never go wrong with cheesiness) breakfast recipe on Saturday morning. We also had Icon donuts and Milkbox bagels for everyone. You need to calorie load even when you are just going to watch the day of dance.

Tomorrow night we host book club at our house for Their Eyes were watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I’m going to make this Best Black Bean Soup from the New York Times for our gathering.

Bombay Frittata: I have yet to make this but I plan to one day this week for breakfast.

I hope you are cooking some amazing food at your house as well.

Good Food, Good Friends

{I have no idea why this posts in all caps when it does not look that way in editing. Strange but I don’t have time to keep messing with it. Enjoy. }

I made a meal yesterday for two musically talented friends who came to town to play a gig. I offered to make them food as I’m all into this entertaining without cleaning utopia. I did actually do a bit of cleaning but I just don’t get stressed out about it. I mostly tidied up a week’s worth of daily clutter and swept our one hardwood floor that shows all the dust bunnies, dog prints, and crumbs.

I have several go-to meals I pull out of my hat that are easy to put together and still make a good impression. Homemade pizzas are a big winner~especially if you ask the kids to help scoop the sauce and decorate the pies. A Mexican burrito or tostado bar is another. This is the one I did today as I came across this great recipe for a Mexican-inspired quinoa dish from Damn Delicious. I woke up early yesterday morning and made the quinoa dish so it would be ready and I’d only have to reheat it.

(Sarah Prineas, Maribeth Boelts, and Jill Esbaum)

I spent my day at the public library for a book festival. We had an amazing time. There were book characters, yoga story time, music, drama, and three Iowa authors. This was the first festival and I think a few things we could do differently but in general it was a good time for all. Groovy Girl had the opportunity to “be” Olivia and she LOVED it. She hugged lots of small people, posed for photos, danced and generally played it up. It was hot and sweaty in the costume yet at the end of the day she didn’t want to take off the huge costume.

After the book festival it was easy for me to wash some greens, saute a pound of grass-fed beef with homemade taco seasonings, reheat the quinoa dish, and fill little bowls with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, and avocado. Right before they arrived I heated corn tortillas on our griddle just enough to make them crunchy. And the best part was cracking open a container of feta cheese to sprinkle over the top. Mmm. It was good, not too heavy, and we were able to eat within about 45 minutes so my friends could travel the 8 minutes to set up their equipment. The most important thing was the lovely conversation around the table between my two children, my two young guests, and myself. There was storytelling and laughing. Entertainment bliss.

Weekend Cooking; Curry and Chappati

(source)

We’ve been eating…lots of good stuff. Last night I whipped up an easy batch of fettuccine (pasta, olive oil, hard Parmesan, cream, thinly sliced garlic, and loads of pepper) after a crazy day with no heat in our house. Lucky for us by 5:00 last night it was fixed otherwise my hands would probably be too cold to type. But the recipe coup of the week was the curry dish I created last Sunday night for guests. We ate the curry over brown rice, washed it down with a couple of ice cold Stella’s, and popped edamame pods for something green.

I cleaned my house early in the day so I’d have plenty of time to cook with out hurrying which leads to worrying that everything’s not going to come out right. It came out great with very little leftovers. Because of the extra time I allowed I had time to whip up something special for the side that my husband loves; chappati. ( Indian Bread) As a 4th and 5th grader my husband spent two years in Malaysia and he loves most everything related to Indian and Asian cooking. My mother-in-law who I adore and bragged about in this post wrote a short cookbook based on her experiences working with friends in Malaysia. I’ve made a few recipes from her book but the chappati one is one of our favorites. It is incredibly easy and they work perfectly as the tool to get more curry into your mouth.

The curry recipe is from Serious Eats. This recipe called for lemongrass which smelled incredible as I chopped and whirred it together with fresh ginger.

And the chappati recipe:

3 cups whole wheat flour, or atta flour

Water, enough to make it pie dough consistency

Knead the water and flour well, at least 30 minutes before you are ready to fry it. Grease the top with ghee or corn oil, cover, and leave at room temperature until ready to use.

Pull off small tangerine-sized hunks of dough and work in your hand until it is smooth and round. Roll out into a flat, round circle about 1/4-inch thick.

Fry on a very hot griddle until golden brown on each side. May brush on a small amount of ghee or oil while frying to make chappatis soft. If they puff up while cooking, press the air out. Continue making until all dough is used up. Keep warm in oven or between layers of towels. Makes 10-12.

Thank you Phyllis!

There is a curry puff recipe here that is on my list to attempt soon.

I also have all the ingredients to make this Mexican Tortilla Casserole that I first spotted at Beth Fish Read’s interview with Katie Workman and now I have the book. I hope all my peeps like it.

We won’t be having it tonight though as Groovy Girl and I have tickets to the ballet…the Russian Ballet performance of Cinderella so we are donning our dresses and heavy winter coats and heading out, one foot in front of the other to the ballet!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts.

Enjoy your weekend…

Weekend Cooking; Party treats

(cranberry salsa)

Over the last few weeks I’ve done a lot of cooking. When I cook I like to cook with love, with feeling, with happy thoughts in my head which takes me beyond the mundane of just cooking a meal, if that makes sense. It’s more than that or I might as well stop and go buy a take-out pizza!

We had guests to entertain a few nights before New Year’s Eve and I wanted to prepare a few special recipes. I had already made this hummus recipe because Eldest daughter likes it so I planned to serve that with crisp celery and a variety of crackers including these snappy little rice crackers from Blue Diamond that I love. I planned on serving quesadillas cut into thin wedges for an appetizer and served some of our own famous salsa with that. I wanted something just a little bit more and found it in this cranberry salsa recipe that I served with those little scoop chips that are perfect for well, scooping dips.

Cranberry Salsa

12 oz. cranberries

1 granny smith apple

1 red or orange pepper

3 T. cilantro

3 T. pickled jalapenos

1/2 of a red onion, diced

1/3 cup apple juice

3/4 cup sugar

Chop first six ingredients. Mix apple juice with sugar in a small saucepan and heat until dissolved. Mix juice mixture with chopped ingredients and stir thoroughly. Refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

My modifications: I didn’t chop up the cranberries because I like whole berries so I added the berries to the cooking apple juice (I used cider) and let them pop, pop, pop. I replaced the sugar with honey because why not?

This dip is tangy and wonderful on a tortilla! Our friends wanted some to take home with them (and they took a container of hummus as well!). I took a small container of it with me to work on Thursday and Friday and ate if with blue chips for lunch and I still have a little leftover for a sometime soon treat.

hummus plate mid-preparation

The original recipe is published in a school cookbook our staff put together a year or two ago. I found that recipe while I was looking for my friend Stephanie’s margarita recipe. Two recipe hits just pages from each other. The margaritas were a perfect balance for the spicy appetizers on our table.

I used Katie Workman’s The Mom 100 Cookbook to pre-make our New Year’s Day brunch menu. My mother-in-law made a french toast dish like this for us one year at the beach but dang if I could not find that recipe. It is such an annoyance when I know I’ve had a recipe but I’ve lost it in the midst of my recipe chaos. Katie saved me though as I paged through a few books looking for something similar. This one is it exactly I believe. It was so delicious served with warmed maple syrup and a dap of real whipped cream. I’ll save that one for next week’s post.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads where many other fabulous food-related posts are waiting for you to check them out.

Weekend Cooking; Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

It’s up! It’s up! My guest post about Joan of Arc is up at Shelf Employed. Click over and read mine as well as others. Jen Bryant (author of A River of Words; the story of William Carlos Williams) shares the ideas that connect Emily Dickinson and Georgia O’Keefe.

Ah, Spring Break has been a treat of restorative time at home to heal and get some projects done. We invited friends over for dinner on Wednesday night to socialize which gave me the first few days of break to ponder what to make. One of their daughters eats gluten-free so I was looking for something that would be versatile without making my own kids blanch from a lack of carbs. I also had a pile of sweet potatoes on my counter begging to be used so I went to my Pinterest board, Eat Drink and Be Merry to search for something I’d drooled over previously. I’d pinned it from the The Novice Chef via Janssen.

Doesn’t it look delicious (see photo below). Mine were served on a bed of greens as well but I didn’t make the delicate creme fraiche laced on the top All I did to make it gluten-free was to lightly toast a few corn tortillas and add the filling in. I opted to make my own black beans by soaking them a day before and cooking them in my slow cooker the day of; they simmered with bay leaves and half a diced onion. I made a lot and plan to freeze a batch of them in packets of 2-3 for future lunches. I had one yesterday and it was even better than Wed. night. I love leftovers but my family does not; so perfect for me to take to school and reheat.

At the table I served them with my own homemade salsa from last summer (made with my mom), chopped avocado, and a spicy sour cream and green chili dip I created to take the place of the fancier (and more time consuming creme fraiche). They were a hit and this recipe will easily become one of my favorites-it would help if I could just get Teenage Boy to like sweet potatoes. I can imagine this as a great potluck meal.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads. Pop over and see what every one else is cooking up!

Source: thenovicechefblog.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Weekend Cooking; Buttermilk Coffee Cake from La Jolla, CA

Okay, I’m not really there but one of my favorite cookbooks is Southern California Cooking from The Cottage by Jane and Michael Stern and Laura Wolfe and it makes me feel like I’m there. I whipped up this breakfast cake for overnight guests from a visiting church choir. I adore this cookbook and I remember purchasing it because of all the great breakfast recipes and I think it was the first cookbook I sat down and read like a book. It has great stories about how the restaurant was purchased by the Wolfe’s mixed with surfing and restaurant memories. I have several starred recipes with penciled in notes about when I made each and how it turned out.

The cookbook is divided into 10 typical sections (breakfast, breakfast breads, soups, salads, sandwiches, dressings and sauces, sides, dinner, and desserts) but the recipes that fill each are extraordinarily yummy!
We love breakfast at our house and I could easily make every single recipe from the two breakfast sections. Everything from Country French Toast, Breakfast Chiliquiles, 3 different eggs bene’s, to Laura’s Meatloaf Hash which uses leftover meatloaf. I’ve not made that one but now that I have several sources for good, local beef it could happen.

The sandwich section is my second favorite part of this book with recipes like the B.L.A.T (we love avocado here too), the Eggplant Panini, and the Brie, Avocado and Sun-Dried Tomato Melt. Yum! Who’s ready for lunch??

Here is the Buttermilk Coffee Cake recipe:

A great cake to serve in the morning or anytime during the day. Buttermilk Coffee Cake has been a staple at the Cottage since the beginning. We offer bites of it to customers waiting for a table when the place is packed on weekend mornings. (I love these little notes for their ability to place me right there, waiting for a table.)

1 cup canola oil
3 1/3 cups flour (unbleached)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
1 T. ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 egg
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 tsp. baking powder (aluminum-free)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I had pecans so I used them)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13 x 9-in pan. In a large mixing bowl combine the oil, flour, sugars, cinnamon, and ginger. the mixture should be crumbly. Set aside 1 1/3 cups of this batter. To the remaining batter add the egg, buttermilk, baking powder, soda and salt. Mix well. Pour the batter into the baking pan. To the reserved batter add the nuts and spread topping evenly over the batter. Bake for 25 minutes or until cake springs back to the touch. Makes 12 pieces of (warm, crumbly) cake. (52)

Weekend Cooking is hosted at Beth Fish Reads-click there to find many more food-related posts.
Some day I hope to take a food journey to La Jolla so I can sit at the cottage and enjoy the casual ambiance.I might even have a Sam Smith Organic Lager listed on their drink menu. Click here to see The Cottage website.

Happy Cooking!

Weekend Cooking; Oatmeal Apple Scones for our guest

It’s not a happy thing to look back on my week, blog-wise and know that my last post was my cooking post from last weekend-especially when I have many finished books waiting for review. We did have a busy week plus we had a guest this week-my husband’s cousin came from Colorado via the train and we had a great time catching up. My husband drove the two-hours to pick him up from the train station and I got inspired and made scones for the next morning. This recipe was incredible easy, fairly healthy and they tasted good. I can’t find my camera or I would share a photo of the finished scones.

Oatmeal Apple Scone Drops
(makes 12 scones)

1 cup uncooked old-fashioned cooking oats
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into chunks
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 medium, organic tart apple, unpeeled, cored, finely chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 egg, slightly beaten

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine oats, flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl; stir until well mixed. Cut in butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in remaining ingredients until well mixed.
Drop batter by 1/2 cupfulls, 2 inches apart, onto lightly greased baking sheets. Slightly flatten each mound.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until toothpick trick comes out clean. Remove to wire cooling rack.
Can add drizzle of powdered sugar (3/4 cup with 2-3 T of water) if desired over warm scones. Serve warm.

Drizzle would make them pretty but I chose not to add it and they were wonderful. I would add it though if I were to make them for a party or brunch. I did not have golden raisins in my pantry so I substituted dried cranberries, which totally worked. I would try other substitutions next time like slivered almonds with the apples sounds good. I always use milk mixed with a little vinegar to make my buttermilk. I just cook so infrequently with buttermilk that this easy substitution works great for me.

They turned out like a breakfast cookie, with a more casual free form shape, compared to another scone recipe I make that requires rolling the dough and cutting into neat large triangles. Everyone liked them and even though our cousin is health-conscience and is trying to stay away from sugar, he had one because, as he put it…he knew I baked them with love in honor of his visit. I didn’t have the same willpower; I ate three the first day.

Happy cooking!

Weekend Cooking is sponsored by Beth Fish Reads. Click on her link to see my cooking related posts.